Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the support you have shown the featured authors in the last few weeks. We have had a lot of positive feedback and are really excited to continue to help lift these high quality content creators in any way we can. We hope to do that by featuring them here, to introduce them to a larger audience all while sending the rewards from these posts to the authors directly, for the content they worked so hard on. We hope that you will continue to help us lift these authors by going to their pages and showing them the love that they deserve.

With that being said, we are doing things a bit different this week. It has been on my mind for awhile to do a showcase of a single individual of the community, someone who is not only writing beautiful content, but is also helping to support the community in one way or another. When I was approached by the one and only @soundwavesphoton with the same idea, I knew we had to make it happen. So, with the blessing of the leaders of @Helpie, we will be starting a Homesteader of the Month on the first Monday of each month. We will be choosing one person each month to dedicate this curation post to, hoping to give them a bit of recognition for all that they do, all while presenting them to a larger audience.

There are many individuals who fit this description and I hope to feature all of them in the months to come.

But, it didn’t take me long though to decide on the first Homesteader of the Month, she is someone who made an impression on me from the very beginning. She is humble, an amazing writer and the most supportive person I have met on this blockchain so far. She is constantly lifting others, and has been responsible for multiple mentions in the Helpie Curation Posts. In fact, she brought @gardeningchannel to my attention, who was featured in the first edition. He was someone who had a big audience on another social network, but wasn’t getting noticed here. Since her discovery he has been found and supported by a large whale account, therefore supporting top quality content on Steemit and hopefully bringing new users here that would have never even heard of the platform. That’s what she does, lifts all those around her… I figured it was time we came together and lifted her as well.

So without further delay, I would like to introduce you all to the one and only @phedizzle.

Many of you may know of her, but I find that she is sort of a hidden gem in the homesteading community and I hope through this post you all will get to know her a little bit better.

Phe joined Steemit in December of last year and has been writing about many things including permaculture, delicious recipes, beautifully written poetry, DIY projects, rare disease/endocrine research, engineering and a plethora of other things. But who is she? I believe looking at her own work is the best way to really get to know her on a deeper level.

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Her post Barefoot In The Boonies Chapter 1 gives us a awe inspiring look at where she came from in a beautifully well written story. She tells of her childhood growing up on an off gird homestead in Missouri. This resonated with me on so many levels. Here is an excerpt;

A good portion of the property was a naturally wild crafted food forest. I roamed around there, Barefoot In The Boonie, as if I owned the entire place. The concept of being bored rarely even entered into my thoughts as a child living there in “the country”. In the warm months I was outside from just after breakfast until dusk, when the monsters in the night came alive. On my excursions I would often pick perfectly ripe fruit, eating it right then and there! …. The older I get, the more I want to recreate this period of time, that childhood entrance into my life…

This post is an absolute favorite of mine and even though it is no longer applicable for an upvote, please take the time to go and read it…you will not be disappointed.

She also has a strong passion for permaculture and is working towards building her own food forest, where she will eat seasonally and have a “mostly hands off constant source of food.” She has a very analytical way of gardening through detailed plans and well thought out planting schedules and locations, which I really admire. In her most recent (and upvote-able) posts she walks us through her garden, focusing on what worked and what she would do differently. Plus, using all parts of the plants, which is so vital for those wanting to live off of the land. Go check these posts out and give her some love;

2011 Brassicas-Tire Garden By @phedizzle

2011 Tire Portion Of The Garden By @phedizzle

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, she is also a very talented poet. Writing in a raw emotional way that leaves you breathless…

From the bellows of her gut
She is heaving
She is crying
From flowing tears into dismal mud
With quakes, chills, and boiling blood
Cities drowning due to devastating floods
Erupting in fevers
Spreading all across her skin
Coughing so violently
Frozen in desolation
Sadness is in her reflection
Within her heart is gold
Her spirit is pure
Yet sickness is overtaking
Her innate allure
SHE…IS…DYING
…

An excerpt from “SHE IS DYING” By @phedizzle

Phe has had a journey back to homesteading similar to myself, and I’m sure many others. She grew up in the homesteading life and then went out into the world to look for something, something we thought we needed at the time. Then something just didn’t feel right… she says, “Living in the city made me restless, angsty, and when I got sick I felt thirsty to run back to the country, like I was dying of thirst. I needed grounding I couldn’t find in an apartment or subdivision.” Since then, she has moved back to her roots and is beginning to make her goals a reality.

What Does Homesteading Mean To You?

“Going from growing up on a homestead to trying to get back to it, homesteading I think means living off the land in a minimalist way. Through foraging, making clothes, repurposing and making things instead of buying them. It’s peaceful and fulfilling.”

Her future projects will include; Rocket stove, outdoor laundry set up, root cellar, solar water heater, and composting toilets. She says “I’m an idea person so homesteading is a great excuse to come up with inventions and innovations.

I hope you all will agree with me that @phedizzle is a unique and very important member of the community who is always focusing on others (just go look at her page…it’s absolutely full of resteems). So please join me in taking the time to lift such a giving person up as much as we possibly can.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and for the continued support. We will be back next week with even more great content, so stay tuned!

Helpie is a new and unique educational community within Steemit, designed to help users that are creating quality content grow on the platform. We do this through a variety of ways including;

• Lessons designed to help users navigate the steemit network and teach them how to get the most out of it. (ex. GINAbot Tutorial, Growing Your Following On Steemit, and Markdown Challenge
  
  
• Daily Steemit related trivia and contests
  
  
• Mentorship from established Steemit users in all different categories
  
  
• A place to discuss ideas, collaborate with other members, and build your personal community
  
  
• Daily upvote from Helpie for members
  
  
  Weekly Curation of great quality content (We are starting with homesteading, but hope to add other categories in the future).
  
  
  Helpie is an invite only community, but anyone can participate in the daily trivia questions. You are not required to upvote Helpi’s posts to participate. This initiative is not meant to be a vote for vote operation, it’s an educational tool only. If you would like to be considered to join Helpie as a minnow in training, please consider joining PALnet/MSP and participating in the community. We have scouts constantly looking for the right minnows to support, and they will reach out with a private invitation.*
  
  

  

  
  

  Helpie Logo By @ankapolo
  Curation By @llfarms